Structure of softball

ABSTRACT

A softball includes a core, a separation layer, and a cover. The core is made of polyurethane that has high compression displacement. The separation layer is formed by wrapping, in a laminated manner, yarns around the core and soaking the wrapping yarns in adhesives. The cover is made of soft skin and includes a buffering layer formed on an inside surface thereof. When the durability of the softball is improved by increasing the compression displacement of the core, the buffering layer provided on the inside surface of the cover provides counterbalance of the overall compression displacement of the softball in order to meet the requirement of the softball specifications. The separation layer that is arranged between the core and the cover and is formed by wrapping the yarns in a laminated manner around the core, followed by soaking the yarns in adhesives so that the separation layer features waterproofness and resistance against humidity, by which invasion of water or humidity into the core, which leads to change of the compression displacement of the softball and eventually causes failure/damage of the softball, can be prevented. Thus, the durability and performance of the softball can be enhanced.

CROSS-REFERENCE

This is a continuation-in-part of the co-pending patent application Ser.No. 11/327,468, filed Jan. 9, 2006.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

(a) Technical Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a softball, and in particular to asoftball having a core that is protected against humidity and that hasenhanced durability.

(b) Description of the Prior Art

Once softballs meet the requirements of compression by all softballassociations they also must meet players acceptance. The crack soundmust be prominent when the player hits the ball off the bat. If battedball has a soft, mushy or thud sound it will not be accepted by players.

A conventional softball that is currently used is shown in FIG. 1 of theattached drawings and generally designated at 1, comprising a core 11and a cover 12. The core 11 is made of cork or foamed substance, such aspolyurethane (PU). The cover 12 comprises a soft skin and is fixed toand wraps the core 11 by stitching to form the softball 1. In differentapplications, the softball 1 must satisfy different specifications, suchas the specification stipulated by ASA and USSSA. In respect ofcompression displacement of the softball, it is required that thecompression displacement of the softball must be no higher than 375 lbs,400 lbs, and 500 lbs, set in different specifications. To be sold in themarket, all the softballs must be manufactured to meet thespecifications. Since the softball 1 is comprised of a core 11 and acover 12, in respect of the requirement of 375 lbs compressiondisplacement, the softball 1 must be made in such a way that the core 11can have a compression displacement not greater than around 375 lbs inorder to prevent the overall compression displacement of the softball 1become over-specification, disqualifying the ball. Under this situation,when the ball 1 is put in use, the ball 1 is often subjected to ahitting force greater than 375 lbs. Such a force is transmitted throughthe cover 12 to the core 11, and leads to damage of the core 11. Whenthe core 11 is damaged, the ball 1 can no longer be qualified for use.As a consequence of such a situation, the conventional softball has apoor durability. Further, when the softball 1 is used in a raining dayor is put in a high humidity environment, rain water or humidity willinvades into inside the softball 1 by penetrating through the cover 12,making the core 11 wet. The core 11 is of high humidity absorption sothat the cover 11 will absorb a great amount of water, whichsubstantially increases the weight of the core 11 and reduces thecompression displacement and bouncing coefficient of the softball 11,thereby disqualifying the ball. Thus, a softball 1 with a wetted core 11is considered damaged and must be disposed of.

Besides the drawback of being wetted, the conventional softball 1 cannotbe deposited or stored in a high humidity environment for watermolecules or humidity will penetrate through the cover 12 and invadeinto inside the softball 1, making the core 11 wetted. Again, the wettedcore 11 makes the compression displacement and bouncing coefficient ofthe softball 1 substantially reduced, and eventually turning thesoftball 1 into a disqualified one. Thus, it is a major challenge of thesoftball manufacturing industry to protect a softball from invasion anddamage caused by humidity and water.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The primary purpose of the present invention is to provide a softball,which comprises a core, a separation layer, and a cover. The core ismade of polyurethane. The separation layer is formed by wrapping, in alaminated manner, yarns around the core and soaking the wrapping yarnsin adhesives. The cover is made of soft skin. The separation layer thatis arranged between the core and the cover and is formed by wrapping theyarns in a laminated manner around the core, followed by soaking theyarns in adhesives so that the separation layer features waterproofnessand resistance against humidity, by which invasion of water or humidityinto the core, which leads to change of the compression displacement ofthe softball and eventually causes failure/damage of the softball, canbe prevented. Thus, the durability and performance of the softball canbe enhanced

Another objective of the present invention is to provide a softballcomprising a core, a separation layer and a cover. The core is made ofpolyurethane that has high compression displacement. The separationlayer is formed by wrapping, in a laminated manner, yarns around thecore and soaking the wrapping yarns in adhesives. The cover is made ofsoft skin and comprises a buffering layer formed on an inside surfacethereof. When the durability of the softball is improved by increasingthe compression displacement of the core, the buffering layer providedon the inside surface of the cover provides counterbalance of theoverall compression displacement of the softball in order to meet therequirement of the softball specifications.

The foregoing object and summary provide only a brief introduction tothe present invention. To fully appreciate these and other objects ofthe present invention as well as the invention itself, all of which willbecome apparent to those skilled in the art, the following detaileddescription of the invention and the claims should be read inconjunction with the accompanying drawings. Throughout the specificationand drawings identical reference numerals refer to identical or similarparts.

Many other advantages and features of the present invention will becomemanifest to those versed in the art upon making reference to thedetailed description and the accompanying sheets of drawings in which apreferred structural embodiment incorporating the principles of thepresent invention is shown by way of illustrative example.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a conventional softball;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view, partially broken, of a softballconstructed in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of a core and a separation layer of thesoftball in accordance with the present invention; and

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the softball in accordance with thepresent invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The following descriptions are of exemplary embodiments only, and arenot intended to limit the scope, applicability or configuration of theinvention in any way. Rather, the following description provides aconvenient illustration for implementing exemplary embodiments of theinvention. Various changes to the described embodiments may be made inthe function and arrangement of the elements described without departingfrom the scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.

With reference to the drawings and in particular to FIG. 2-4, a softballconstructed in accordance with the present invention, generallydesignated with reference numeral 2, comprises a core 3, a separationlayer 4, a cover 5 and a buffering layer 6 arranged on an inner surfaceof the cover 5.

The core 3 is made of polyurethane. This provides the core 3 with betterperformance of compression displacement and the softball 2 can be madematching the specification of compression displacement or exceeding thespecification of the compression displacement.

The separation layer 4 is formed on windings of yarns 41 wrapping aroundan outer circumference of the core 3 to provide a layer of wrappingyarns of a desired thickness. The yarns 41 can be made of polyesterfibers, which help improving waterproofness of the separation layer 4.The core 3 with the yarn layer can be soaked in adhesives to completelyfill gaps between the yarns with the adhesives. The adhesiveness of theadhesives fixes the separation layer 4 and the core 3 and the cover 5tightly together to thereby integrate the separation layer 4 and thecore 3 together. Further, the adhesives that fill into the gaps betweenthe yarns provide the separation layer 4 with excellent waterproofness.As such, the separation layer 4 functions to protect the core 3 frombeing invaded by humidity or water.

The cover 5 can be made of natural leather, composite leather, PVC (PolyVinyl Chloride) PU or other synthetic materials and is stitched tosurround the separation layer 4 and the core 3.

The buffering layer 6 is made of a soft material, such as rubber, PU(polyurethane) foams, PE (polyethylene), and EVA, and is arranged on aninner side of the cover 5. The thickness range of the buffering layer 6is 1 to 2 mm, preferably 1.5 mm. Further, the buffering layer 6preferably has a hardness of 40 Shore A.

To embody the present invention, polyurethane is subjected to foaming tomake the core 3, and this gives the core 3 a compression displacementthat meets the requirement of the specifications, or the core 3 can bemade exceeding the required compression displacement. Polyester yarnsare then wrapped around, in a laminated manner, an outer circumferenceof the core 3. The core 3 that is wrapped by the yarn layer is soaked inthe adhesives to form the separation layer 4 around the outercircumference of the core 3. Finally, the cover 5 that is provided at aninner side thereof with the buffering layer 6, is stitched to attach toan outer surface of the separation layer 4, whereby the cover 5 wrapsthe separation layer 4 and the core 3 therein to thereby complete themanufacturing of the softball 2, which contains, from inside to outside,the core 3, the separation layer 4, the buffering layer 6, and the cover5.

The softball 2 in accordance with the present invention at least has thefollowing advantages:

(1) The separation layer 4 is formed between the cover 5 and the core 3.The separation layer 4 is made of wrapping yarns 41 soaked in adhesivesand thus, has improved waterproofness. Therefore, when the softball 2 ofthe present invention is put in a high humidity environment, or when thesoftball 2 of the present invention is put in contact with water orliquids, the separation layers 41 functions to isolate the core 3 fromthe invasion of the humidity or liquids, so that the life span of thesoftball 2 can be extended and the performance enhanced. Further, sincethe separation layer 4 is formed by soaking the wrapping yarns 41 in theadhesives, the softball 2, upon hit, gives off a sharp sound. Thisenhances the performance of the softball 2.

(2) The cover 5 is provided at the inner side thereof with the bufferinglayer 6. This allows the core 3 to be made in an over-specificationmanner. For example, when the specification requirement for the softballis set to be 375 lbs, the core 3 in accordance with the presentinvention can be made with a compression displacement of 400 lbs. Or, incase that the overall compression displacement of the softball isrequired to be 400 lbs, the core 3 in accordance with the presentinvention can be made with a compression displacement of 450 lbs.Although the core 3 in accordance with the present invention is madeover-specification with higher compression displacement, the bufferinglayer 6 provides means of counterbalance by which the overallcompression displacement of the softball 2 can be eventually set to thedesired value. The increase of the compression displacement of the core3 allows the softball 2 made in accordance with the present inventiondurable. This is simply because that when the softball 2 is subjected toa hitting pressure of 430 lbs, the core 3 that has a higher compressiondisplacement of 450 lbs can effectively take the 430 lbs hitting forcewithout being damaged. Consequently, the softball 2 of the presentinvention is more durable.

(3) The buffering layer 6 that is arranged on the inside surface of thecover 5 allows the core 3 to be made in an over-specification manner,and this not only improves the durability of the softball 2 but alsoenhances the performance of the softball 2 due to the increasedcompression displacement of the core 3, which provides the core 3 withhigher hardness, so that when the softball 2 is hit, a sharp sound isgiven off and the softball 2 flies a longer distance.

(4) The buffering layer 6 that is arranged on the inside surface of thecover 5 provides cushioning between a high-speed flying softball 2 andan individual when the softball 2 is thrown or hit to move toward theindividual, whereby damage to the person by the flying softball 2 isalleviated and safety is enhanced.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to thepreferred embodiment thereof, it is apparent to those skilled in the artthat a variety of modifications and changes may be made withoutdeparting from the scope of the present invention which is intended tobe defined by the appended claims.

It will be understood that each of the elements described above, or twoor more together may also find a useful application in other types ofmethods differing from the type described above.

While certain novel features of this invention have been shown anddescribed and are pointed out in the annexed claim, it is not intendedto be limited to the details above, since it will be understood thatvarious omissions, modifications, substitutions and changes in the formsand details of the device illustrated and in its operation can be madeby those skilled in the art without departing in any way from the spiritof the present invention.

1. A softball comprising a core, a separation layer, and a cover, theseparation layer being arranged between the core and the cover, theseparation layer being formed by wrapping, in a laminated manner, yarnsaround the core and soaking the wrapping yarns in adhesives, a bufferinglayer made of soft material and formed on an inside surface of thecover, whereby the core is allowed to make with high compressiondisplacement.
 2. The softball as claimed in claim 1, wherein the core ismade of polyurethane.
 3. The softball as claimed in claim 1, wherein theyarns are formed of polyester fibers.
 4. The softball as claimed inclaim 1, wherein the separation layer and the core are tightly fixedtogether.
 5. The softball as claimed in claim 1, wherein the separationlayer and the cover that is provided with the buffering layer aretightly fixed together.
 6. The softball as claimed in claim 1, whereinthe buffering layer is made of a material selected from a groupconsisting of rubber, polyurethane, polyethylene, and ethylene vinylacetate.